mmm well!! i do definitely think it's within ivan's capacity to...mmmm. not necessarily "ghost" till, but definitely walk out on him. i don't necessarily think the correlation...causation? whichever, lmao—would be directly rooted to ivan feeling like he was too vulnerable with till and thus had to "hide" because of that.

i've written some things to this effect, but i see it playing out largely the other way around: ivan is very controlled about his vulnerabilities and till, as someone who finds honesty appealing and finds ivan's cagey bullshit confusing, is the one who gets fed up with ivan refusing to be vulnerable first.

i think that ivan walks away either A) for some petty reason [ex: till pissed him off and he wants till to cave first] or B) because he assumes that's what till wants him to do. maybe till even says as much. i have some things that i like to attribute to ivan's personality because that's how i see him and that's what's fun for me to write, but no matter what i hc, you can't deny that (generally speaking) ivan is pretty respectful when till says no.

*...barring invading till's personal space, but it seems obvious given recent comics that till is just sooooo used to ivan being in his space he's like 🙄 very whatever about that piece of it lol.

"safe enough to come back" — i think that's the part where i venture onto another path. it is entirely dependent on till's decision whether ivan comes back. i think he would probably keep tabs on till (either through social media or previously shared friends, e.g. mizi & sua, etc.), but until till is like. hey. i miss you. that was kinda shitty of me. ivan will keep his distance.

anyways! to each their own, yk. if you want ivan licking his wounds like a sore loser and finally putting his heart on the line much to till's bewilderment, you have my complete blessing 🫡 🥰